diff --git a/cmd/ethereum/flags.go b/cmd/ethereum/flags.go
index 57e5d8b8c1f62c9530d9b965ac893ef0b932edc5..f829744dc9317c746f67e6360a901573c1674f4f 100644
--- a/cmd/ethereum/flags.go
+++ b/cmd/ethereum/flags.go
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@ var (
 	ImportChain     string
 	SHH             bool
 	Dial            bool
+	PrintVersion    bool
 )
 
 // flags specific to cli client
@@ -120,6 +121,7 @@ func Init() {
 
 	flag.BoolVar(&StartMining, "mine", false, "start dagger mining")
 	flag.BoolVar(&StartJsConsole, "js", false, "launches javascript console")
+	flag.BoolVar(&PrintVersion, "version", false, "prints version number")
 
 	flag.Parse()
 
diff --git a/cmd/ethereum/main.go b/cmd/ethereum/main.go
index 481914aeadd9eb9e3d5c8504c40b2486a4821d0b..3243cc7fb2da98a8e8b3a643e820c570fdea51d2 100644
--- a/cmd/ethereum/main.go
+++ b/cmd/ethereum/main.go
@@ -52,6 +52,11 @@ func main() {
 	// precedence: code-internal flag default < config file < environment variables < command line
 	Init() // parsing command line
 
+	if PrintVersion {
+		printVersion()
+		return
+	}
+
 	utils.InitConfig(VmType, ConfigFile, Datadir, "ETH")
 
 	ethereum, err := eth.New(&eth.Config{
@@ -137,3 +142,13 @@ func main() {
 	// this blocks the thread
 	ethereum.WaitForShutdown()
 }
+
+func printVersion() {
+	fmt.Printf(`%v %v
+PV=%d
+GOOS=%s
+GO=%s
+GOPATH=%s
+GOROOT=%s
+`, ClientIdentifier, Version, eth.ProtocolVersion, runtime.GOOS, runtime.Version(), os.Getenv("GOPATH"), runtime.GOROOT())
+}